I almost did not fall in love with Khaled Hosseini's writing because of Kite Runner. When the movie came out my book club read The Kite Runner and did the tie-in movie night. Everyone was crazy about the book and the movie. Meanwhile, I missed out on reading it because it was sold out at Barnes and Noble the night I went to buy it and and all checked out at the library.

Finally somone says MolotovMimi, you will love this and gives me the book because it's the best book ever. And sure it was good, but I was underwhelmed because it'd been sold as this absolutely earth shattering book and I was like meh.

Then I picked up A Thousand Spledid Suns because it was on sale. I grabbed it to read before bed and read through the night, passed out like at 3:00 a.m. and then called in sick to work so I could finish reading it.

Read The Kite Runner for English class in hs, and then we got to pick a book for our next unit and I picked A Thousand Splendid Suns. By far my favorite book. I’ve been meaning to order his newest book, so thanks for the reminder!

yes! gone girl absolutely fantastic. haven't started sharp objects but heard its amazing. Gone girl is great even if u heard what happened in the movie. It's still super interesting and theres stuff in the book that wasn't in the movie!

Yeah, I watched Gone Girl before I read the book and I still really enjoyed the book because I felt like I understood Amy and her reasoning and motivation way more than the movie was able to show. A great book!

I just ordered it on Amazon. Gone Girl didn't really get me interested until about halfway through, so I never sought out her other books. Just reading the description though, it sounds really good. I can't wait to get it.

The show is a beautifully realized adaptation of the book. It’s definitely a story that lends itself to a visual medium. That being said, I highly recommend reading the book first if you have an interest in it, because it might be a little flat after you already know the mystery.

The show is a beautifully realized adaptation of the book. It’s definitely a story the lends itself to a visual medium. That being said, I highly recommend reading the book first if you have an interest in it, because it might be a little flat after you already know the mystery.

If you like Gillian Flynn you should give Lisa Jewell a try. I’ve read 3 books by her so far, “I found you”, “The House we grew up in” and “Then she was gone” all good. Could not put them down and binge read each one in one day!

Oh god yes! I managed to finish it in the library during a break in between classes. I broke down. Full on tears. Luckily I was in a private little cubicle but still. I purchased the book not too long after

I'm actually surprised to see this here. The main character seemed like an insecure jerk to me. Also the way he treats the women in the first book is cringy. I ended up giving up about halfway through the first one. Reminded me of reading Twilight.

THANK YOU. I got about halfway through the book before I finally gave up because it felt like such neckbeard wish-fulfillment fantasy. which is a shame, because the world-building and lore seemed really interesting and were actually what convinced me to start reading it in the first place.

I know it's no consolation, but modern day/narrator Kvothe does acknowledge how embarrassingly cocky and lucky he often was as a kid, and taking those things for granted does eventually have consequences in his relationships and his adventures.

It's my favourite series so I recommend it to literally everyone I know, and I've heard people struggle on different things (Kvothe's a Mary Sue/wish fulfillment fantasy; the saccharine prose whenever Denna's in a scene; the slow start of NotW), but every person I've known who stuck with it went on to devour the second book and join the begging masses waiting on book 3.

Yeah I definitely agree that the cringe is intentional. I think the difference between people who love the books and who hate them is that people who hate them are used to having hero protagonists, and they hate Kvothe so much that they can't stand the way he's put in the protagonist slot. But that's totally intentional, because it's Kvothe putting himself in the heroic light, not Rothfuss, and it's a whole meta thing with the main character also being a storyteller. It's like if a book was in first person from the perspective of an author who's determined to make the reader think he's cool. In my experience, people who love the books also hate Kvothe, it's just that they're also intrigued with the way Kvothe tells his own story, and invested in seeing his inevitable downfall, and this overrides the general annoyance of this character.

haha, it does seem to be a pretty divisive book. it's still on my shelf (I bought a signed first edition because I was so sure it would be right up my alley), and I've been meaning to give it another chance - maybe this time I'll make it the whole way through?

I have the same thoughts, even after reading the two books that are out. Just reading and cringing the whole way through - especially when Kvothe met Felurian. The whole premise of a virgin nerd kid bedding literally the most beautiful woman (technically Fae) in the known world and also being able to bring her to pleasure has got to be straight out of a wet dream that Patrick Rothfuss had before writing the first book.

​

Kvothe is SUCH a blank, Mary Sue type character and it's painful to read. I'm only waiting for the 3rd book to come out so I can finish the series and be done with it.

I'll go ahead and defend this even though I know that it's not likely to change your mind (this book's just not for everyone, I get it). Basically he is an insecure jerk. The way he treats women is super cringey, yeah. The author has said as much himself, it's completely intentional (I believe his words were "What the hell does Kvothe know about healthy relationships?"). Bur the point of this book is not that Kvothe is the hero. The book does not present Kvothe as being some superhero we should love and root for, he's not Harry Potter. The point of these books is presented right at the start: at some point, Kvothe will absolutely come to ruin and be left as nothing but an innkeeper hiding from everyone who wants him dead. At some point, he is finally going to cross a line, do something so bad that all of his smarts and cunning can't get him out of it, and this will break him. That's why I love these books, they're about the anticipation of that fall, and they remind you of that every time the story cuts back to the present day. The fun is in trying to figure out when and how that happens.

And as another point, ask yourself whether you don't like the books just because one character is an asshole, or whether you don't like them because the asshole happens to be the main character, presented as the protagonist. Because if it's the second thing, then I'd urge you to remember that Rothfuss isn't presenting Kvothe as a protagonist; Kvothe is. It's Kvothe telling his own story and trying his very best to make himself seem cool. Rothfuss is presenting him as an asshole who's still trying his best to put himself in a positive light, which makes him even worse. If you try reading from that perspective, it might help. But if you really don't like it just because books with asshole characters in them just aren't your cup of tea, that's totally fine too.

Yeah. I read quite a bit of it. Around 250 pages. It didn’t hook me from the beginning and I thought it was pretty boring. I tried to power through though because I heard it was amazing and I thought it’d eventually get good. But I finally had to put it down because I absolutely HATED Kvothe.

I listened to it on audiobook and the VA does some great voices accents that make it a much more entertaining. I love his friends. Just try and forget that Kvothe is a cocky asshat and focus on how sweet his friends are. Or just skip it, lol.

I heard so many good things about this book and read the first dozen pages at a bookstore last summer—was very bummed that I couldn’t get into it at all. The writing and characterization really bothered me, and I honestly thought they were quite average.

I wouldn't wait, either. They are perfect books for a re read because there's so much meat. After your first read, hop onto the related sub so you can get your fix of theories, plot twists, Easter Eggs, etc.

The users won't usually respond to you unless you've read the book once though, lol. They're pretty strict about not wanting to discuss anything for fear they may spoil something to come later because a seemingly meaningless thing could have an intense impact later. So read it ASAP then hop on there, :).

I'm not saying I'm the queen of finishing every book I pick up, but man I pick up a lot of books, and this was one of them. I loved The Name of the Wind. But I'm a lady person, I definitely took umbrage at the immaturity of the narrator's voice for so much of it the story. But that's the genius of it. If only Rothfuss would FINISH THE LAST BOOK there'd be some closure.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had to know how it ended. And after the battle I didn't want to read more because then it would be over.. I was quite sad. The Epilogue-Which-Should-Not-Have-Been-Written didn't help either tbh.

Reading HBP to my elementary age kids now and I’m fiercely protective in terms of not letting any spoilers in. I’d be livid if the Dumbledore part got revealed to them ahead of time. I’m looking forward to ugly crying with them again.

Agree on the movie. I didn't like really like the whole last movie (part one or two) very much, they could have done much better, the movies started going downhill after the order of the phoenix imo. How come you didn't like the book I have read the whole series like 4 times now and every time the last book is the one I look forward to the most, it has me in goose bumps and locked to the pages the whole time.

I didn't hate the whole book, just the epilogue. Everything was just so cringy and 'picture perfect'. I thought the whole strength of the series was they all have flaws, and nothing is a guarantee. But they all have the perfect relationship, perfect kids (and those names.. God.. Ginny didn't seem to have any say in them, I can write a whole essay about it) and just.. Ugh.

I watched the show and I think it’s great. They’re very faithful to the book. But all of the distressing things that happen in the book are suddenly much harder to deal with when they’re in your face...not one to binge watch unless you just have nerves of steel.

I agree. I binge watched it over a very long flight. It took its toll on me as well. I wanted to stop watching but couldn’t tear myself away. I was a bit out of sorts for days. Fantastic but difficult to watch.

as much as I like the show, it actually feels very different to me than the novel (tonally, at least). like—

BIG OLD POTENTIAL SPOILER DISCLAIMER

—in the novel, despite all of her independent thoughts and sort of micro-rebellions, Offred does very little to challenge the status quo because Gilead has been so effective at removing people’s resources for rebellion (education, ability to congregate, literacy). the book feels oppressive because the reader realizes how trapped she is and how little hope there is for her; the only freedom she has is in her own mind. I love the show, but I feel like show-Offred is given much more leeway to be outspoken and disobedient.

I love the show! I read the book and I really appreciate the fact that they took their time to make a show out of it, so that they could focus a lot on the details, rather than trying to squeeze it all in a 1hr45min movie

I am reading that with two of my clients/students. My daughter and I are starting on it next week. It is a favorite of mine. It's so interesting to teach b/c there are so many articles and things about it and the themes it explores.

She's mandatory reading for Canadians in school, pretty much. One of her earlier books, Cat's Eye, is very good for mothers with girls. It explores girl-on-girl bullying despite being written decades ago.

The Robber Bride is one of my favourites: it examines female friendships and jealousy in a brilliant way.

She's quickly becoming one of mine, too! I haven't read The Handmaid's Tale yet, but I'm the final entry in the MadAddam series and I have trouble focusing during work because I'm thinking about it so much lol

I lost all respect for her after she used her clout in Canadian publishing to silence the young women coming forward with accusations that Steven Galloway sexually harassed or assaulted them at the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia.

You follow the main character as he retells his life story. It's a really immersive world, there's meaning hidden everywhere. The magic in this world is all "science" based and really amazing. The character development is done in a really interesting way. It's tough to tell more about the story without ruining it..

That's what everyone keeps telling me! I have been barreling through WoR, it took me a month to read TWoK but I am probably going to have WoR done in under a week. I only discovered Brandon Sanderson this year and I am addicted.

Tried getting into Mistborn a few times but couldn't. I read Warbreaker and absolutely loved it so I thought I'd dive into Mistborn but it just felt really slow and I didn't really care about the characters. It didn't hook me like Warbreaker did. Maybe I was riding off the high of Warbreaker those times and my expectations were too high. It's been a while, perhaps I ought to try again.

I’m not kidding, I was heartbroken and had to take like a month long break from reading it.
But it did get better and it makes sense. I don’t blame you for not reading it. I’m not upset that I did though.

This was my first audiobook, because I really wanted to hear the Scottish accents, so technically there was no “putting down.” However! It was supposed to be a way to pass the time on my commute, and instead I went home and binge-listened.

My caveat for The Martian: if you put a high value on character development, I'd skip this one. If you're interested in the thought experiment of how someone would survive in a life-or-death situation on Mars, it's probably up your alley! I wasn't able to read more than a few chapters.

If you like sci-fi thought experiments but are also picky like me, Wool by Hugh Howey was pretty interesting. It's a series but I still need to read the follow-up books.

I totally get this - normally I care a lot about having good character development, so I was surprised when I finished The Martian in two days despite it lacking any of that. It was definitely not my normal cup of tea.

I could not put down Into Thin Air either! I had never thought much about what climbing Everest would be like, now I realize it has several analogies into our daily life. Such as, forgetting small details will cost you later.

I heard they were making a movie about it (excellent cast btw) and so I read the premise, then picked it up at maybe 6 pm and did not stop until I finished it including an all-nighter. I just loved it so much

I literally threw the book on the floor when I finished reading it. It's rare that a book ever makes me feel so viscerally angry! It was so well done. It was so gripping and interesting all the way through.

My adult son got me hooked on this series. He recently moved 16 hours away, taking his books with him, so the series is now on my to be purchased list. I loved how each book was so interwoven into the whole of the story.

Oh I know right!? I never got to finish the Bean series and I think I missed one from Enders series but it doesn't matter because I'm going to re read them regardless, I own them all on my Kindle now! Again, fuck the movie.

Just finished reading Crazy Rich Asians and I saw the movie. Loved them both. The storylines were fairly consistent, the ends were definitely different, but both good. You get more of Rachel's backstory in the book and details about her family, which is cool. I loved the visual descriptions in the book, it made it feel very immersive and I think it connects you to the more subtle cultural cues of Singaporean life. I'm reading China Rich Girlfriend now :)

100 Years of Solitude. It can be confusing because of the repeating character names and themes but its all part of the bigger theme of how we trap ourselves in a misery of our own doing by giving into our darker impulses. Also the style its written in, magical realism, was deeply influence by surrealism and cubism art at that time. Think about Magrite, Kahlo, Dali, or Picasso as examples. So when you read it, picture it as a Dali painting come to life, makes the experience much better.

It is written from the perspective of a male book store worker, who falls in creepy, obsessive love at first sight with a beautiful girl who walks into his store. He begins to stalk her and he won’t stop messing with her life until he gets what he wants; her to fall in love with him.

It is totally gripping, suspenseful, ABSURD, thrilling, and at times completely fucking hilarious. I finished it in a day....and stopped chatting up cute bookstore workers after that out of pure paranoia.

It also has recently become a TV show on Lifetime and never have I been so happy with a television adaptation of a book. So so well done!

i’ve seen a few people say the audiobook is the “best audiobook they’ve ever listened to” because of how great the narrator is! i have never listened to an audio book myself but i might have to listen to the second book, Hidden Bodies, it appears to be read by the same narrator!

If you’ve got a chance to read this book please do! It’s a really riveting look into the thought processes of autistic people from the POV of an autistic teenage boy. It’s not overly romanticized, has a good narrative, and I found it quite enjoyable. There was also a play made out of it which is visually stunning. The play is a great watch, but I’d recommend the book first ;)

I personally really enjoyed the whole series, but the first book is filled with brilliant, and often very funny, short stories so is definitely one of my favourites. So I'd start there and if you enjoy it then you can try some of the others.

I think I finished The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins in 48 hours. It was so good and I know it's a movie now but I enjoyed that too. If you haven't seen the movie with Emily Blunt, definitely read the book if you're looking for a suspenseful thriller.

Did you find the start of the book slow at all? I keep seeing everyone recommending this but when I tried reading it I got bored very quickly and couldn't continue. I'm wondering if I should have pushed further as it seems to be universally loved!

I really enjoyed the Alienist. I then immediately borrowed his second and third books of that series from the library and blasted through those as well. It's become one my favorite series to recommend to people on Netflix.

True, some of the changes made for the series were confusing, but for people who aren't readers, is still quite decent. At the very least it may compel them to move onto reading the much more superior novel (the descriptions of the lavish meals made me so jealous that I don't have access to a time machine so I can't go to Delmonico's myself!)

There are many, but most recently I finished Annihilation by James VanderMeer and I could not put it down. It's a fairly short book, but even with my busy work/grad school schedule, I finished it in 3 days.

So many books, but the one that sticks out most that I literally couldn’t put down (seriously, I wasn’t sleeping or taking care of any of my obligations!) was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I read it in 2 days. I loved it so much.

I decided to read this after hearing her being interviewed on NPR. It was such an interesting read and really heart wrenching. There were so many times I just wanted to take that little girl and hug her.

I went on a cross country road trip and downloaded the audiobook. Me and my partner listened to the whole thing and were so in love with it that sometimes we would pause the book after a particularly good chapter just so we could process how incredible it was. Highly recommend!

The Great Alone (same author) is also incredible and narrated by the same woman.

I read the whole thing, well listened, because I was in a book club and it was the monthly pick.
I think that my issue with it is that it isn't my genre of choice. I like suspense and love stories (like Nicholas Sparks) so I was bored to death.

DO you know how happy I am to see the Eragon books on this list!!! That is the first series that got me into fantasy. I even went to a meet and greet with Christopher Paolini and I may or may not have the Elven greeting tattooed on my ribs.

I remember when Inheritance came out and I started reading it, I got so sucked in that reality no longer felt real. My mom picked me up from school and I was in the back of the car so engrossed in the book, and she wanted to stop at a store on the way home. I walked around the store in a complete daze just feeling nothing was real outside of the story.

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan. "When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?" Completely fascinating look into diagnostic medicine and mental illness. ETA: It's a true story, a memoir.

The Lovely Bones. I read it everywhere until I finished it. I have pretty severe ADHD so reading anything is a huge accomplishment for me. I didn’t read anything while in school since all the books were boring to me and I couldn’t retain shit unless I was very interested. I only do audiobooks now and I couldn’t stop listening to Lone Survivor a year or so ago because it was so good.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. If you have any interest in plants/farming/local food movement/nutrition/country life.. it is so informative and she’s very entertaining to read. Very wholesome. I’m re-reading it now for the fourth time!

From Holmes to Sherlock : The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Bostrom. I didn't read the description well enough, and thought it would be an over sized glossy coffee table book mostly of Sherlockiana, from the first published story to glossy publicity shots from the most recent movies and tv shows. It isn't, it's a very detailed history of the Sherlock Holmes character from Arthur Conan Doyle's creation to modernizations , from Basil Rathbone fighting nazis to tv and movie-inspired fan- and slashfiction, to 21st century updated television versions, and it's full of fascinating vignettes . Despite it not being what I expected, I read through all 497 pages in 2 or 3 days.

The author got almost everything (he left out Wishbone-Sherlock Holmes' portrayal by a Jack Russell terrier, opposite a human Dr Watson who keeps a commendably straight face-and a cartoon show I vaguely recall from the 1980s (?) in which Sherlock Holmes has been brought back to life, and is solving crimes in the 22nd or 23rd century intergalactic empire), but this gives about as clear and detailed a history of Holmes as one could expect. (Even Without a Clue,the Basil of Baker Street books, and the resulting Great Mouse Detective animated film get contextual descriptions. )

What I mainly learned from the book is :

Copyright laws suck and are very confusing ;

Anthony "Tony" Harwood was a truly awful human;

And the movie Sherlock Holmes versus the Vengeance of Dracula needs to happen. They need to try again. I NEED THIS MOVIE!

If you have any appreciation for, say, Sherlock, or Elementary, or the original stories and novels, you'll like this book.

The author got almost everything (he left out Wishbone-Sherlock Holmes' portrayal by a Jack Russell terrier, opposite a human Dr Watson who keeps a commendably straight face-and a cartoon show I vaguely recall from the 1980s (?) in which Sherlock Holmes has been brought back to life, and is solving crimes in the 22nd or 23rd intergalactic empire), but this gives about as clear and detailed a history of Holmes as one could expect. (Even Without a Clue,the Basil of Baker Street books, and the resulting Great Mouse Detective animated film get contextual descriptions. )

From Holmes to Sherlock : The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Bostrom. I didn't read the description well enough, and thought it would be an over sized glossy coffee table book mostly of Sherlockiana, from the first published story to glossy publicity shots from the most recent movies and tv shows. It isn't, it's a very detailed history of the Sherlock Holmes character from Arthur Conan Doyle's creation to modernizations , from Basil Rathbone fighting nazis to tv and movie-inspired fan- and slashfiction, to 21st century updated television versions, and it's full of fascinating vignettes. Despite it not being what I expected, I read through all 497 pages in 2 or 3 days.

From Holmes to Sherlock : The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Bostrom. I didn't read the description well enough, and thought it would be an over sized glossy coffee table book mostly of Sherlockiana, from the first published story to glossy publicity shots from the most recent movies and tv shows. It isn't, it's a very detailed history of the Sherlock Holmes character from Arthur Conan Doyle's creation to modernizations , from Basil Rathbone fighting nazis to fan- and slashfiction to 21st century updated television versions, and it's chockful of fascinating vignettes. Despite it not being what I expected, I read through all 497 pages in 2 or 3 days.

Agreed! He was soooo cute in that li'l deerstalker cap and doggie greatcoat. The author does mention that Sherlock was played by a "mouse and a dog", and those who saw Wishbone know who he means, but he should have clarified, dammit-! (And better yet, included a picture of Wishbone in the small middle inset section).

Especially since there were TWO Sherlock Holmes stories! The Hound of the Baskervilles and Scandal in Bohemia, if I remember correctly. (I credit Wishbone for my early love of all classic lit, I have strong feelings.)

Yes! The 2nd book China Rich Lady (i think?) was really, really good. I'm almost done the third one now. I think its a great series, one of the few where the second and third books are almost as good as the first!

I can't put down suspense novels, naturally, the last one I liked was The Wife Between Us. Non-thriller: Karl Pilkington's books, I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron, I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron, Sister Mother Husband Dog etc by Delia Ephron.

I’ve read lots of books throughout life, but when I was younger, probably 12-13, I read “The Giver” and it totally sucked me in. Not the longest book in the world, but still, I picked it up on a whim and wound up reading it cover to cover in like one sitting.

Grička vještica (The Witch from Grich) series by Marija Jurić Zagorka.
She was a Croatian author, one of the first Croatian feminists. Her work is translated into English, so check it out, it is amazing!!!

A Prayer For Owen Meany and Homegoing. I’d guess A Gentleman in Moscow too, but I listened to it over a very long car trip so I was forced to go through it quickly. However it was amazing and I’m sure I would have stopped everything in my life to keep reading it.

I have been on a rampage reading all the Lisa Jewell books I can get my hands on from the library since I stumbled upon my first one over the summer. LOVE how she writes. I just finished “The House We Grew Up In.” So good.

Go Ask Alice. It’s a easy read, about a teenage girl who develops a drug habit at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of self-destructive escapism. The book is in diary form, and was originally presented as being the edited "real diary" of the unnamed teenage protagonist.

Omg the entire Elena Ferrante My Brilliant Friend series.... I think they’re called the Neopilitan Novels. Also I recently read two great books—Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (yikes and the writing is so good) an Putney by Sofka Zinovieff. That one is really anger-inducing but I couldn’t put it down.

The passage by Justin Cronin, it's the first in a trilogy and is incredible. It's a vampire virus apocalyptic series but spans a thousand years. Been turned into a tv series and will be on fox in January can not recommend it enough

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I was 12, and a voracious reader. That book was one of the ones that pulled me right in. I love it. The movie is nowhere near as good as the book,and they changed part of the plot. Honestly, it is a fun,easy read.

Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton. It's not something I had considered but I saw it in a charity shop and it seemed light hearted in nature which fitted what I was looking for at the time. Indeed it was at first bu by the end I was quite affected by it and cared for what happened to her friends and her changing attitudes to herself as the book progresses.
Manages to hit that spot between easy to read and hits deep at points.

The Hunger Games series.
Maze Runner.
Divergent
The Giver
Percy Jackson
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Modern Faerie Tales series by Holly Black
The Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Pact by Jodi Picoult.
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Wild by Cheryl Strayed.
Toddlers are Assholes by Bunmi Laditan.
The Outlander Series.
The Phantom Tollbooth.
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk.
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.

Books I’ve read this year and couldn’t put down:

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Hobbit

The Stranger by Albert Camus. I read in HS for an AP class, and I finished it in two days. Read it in other classes, at lunch, immediately when I got home, and wrapped it up about two weeks before it was due.

This is going to be the most basic thing ever, but Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Before this, I was not an avid reader. My mom used to sit me down and give me random books to improve my comprehensive reading, but I would always fake reading it and do something else. She heard about this book being popular and bought it for me, and since my friends at the time were also reading and talking about it, I gave it a chance. Let's just say that afterward, my mom would make it a point to go to Costco the day any sequel released. I sat in the cart, cracked open the fresh book , and read my little heart away as she wheeled me around the brightly lit warehouse. When we got home she made me a little snack plate and gave me some tea. I read nonstop into the whee hours of the morning until I finished each book. After, I fell asleep dreaming of my own adventures at Hogwarts. This is one of my favorite childhood memories of growing up.

The Dead and The Gone series by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I loved the book but I loved when I learned it had 3 more books that gave me closure, because I could never stop thinking about my favorite characters in them.

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis. It’s his memoir and holy shit that man has lived an insane life. It was incredible to realize where he is in 2018 compared to how his life began. It’s pretty inspiring in my opinion.

I'd been putting off reading Blackout because I didn't want it to end! I was initially leery about Deadline because of the ending to book one, but shit that one was even better than Feed. Blackout is really good too, but unless it ends real crazy it's not topping Deadline as my favorite of the trilogy

I liked it so much I went ahead and picked up her Parasitology trilogy, all 3 books, sight unseen. Which I NEVER do, i always only order the first book in a series just in case I don't care for it, but Mira Grant has entered the rarified air of "oh they wrote it? I'm readin it" that I give to only a very, very few authors

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I borrowed the audiobook from the library, was done in about 2 days, bought the book as soon as I was finished so I could read it again and then a few weeks later borrowed the audiobook so I could listen to it again while driving.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. Was hooked from the first sentence i.e. "It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."

The Deep by Nick Cutter. God damn what an amazing book. It creeped me right the fuck out, made me literally jump once, and also I had to put the book down and ugly cry for a few moments towards the end.

Currently I'm having a hard time pulling myself away from Blackout by Mira Grant. It's the last book in the Newsflesh trilogy. It started out a little iffy, to be honest, I wasn't immediately sucked in the way I was with Feed or Deadline, but now it's really rocking and rolling and all I want to do is run home from work and pick it up and keep on going.

Hell House by Richard Matheson was another great book. My only complaint about it is that all of the violence towards the male characters is physical, while all of the violence towards the female characters is sexual. This one definitely has trigger warnings with it, but I still found it to be amazing. And while I was reading it, the dark corners of my house seemed to be just a tiny bit darker and scarier at night.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Not only could I not put it down, I had to restart it immediately as it's one of those where once you know the twist, it changes the story. I've read it 5 or 6 times and still pick up on stuff.

The first one (Nothing to Envy) was a book I bought for a class that I didn’t read until 2 years later. Probably one of my favorite books now. It’s a non fiction (they all are) about North Korea and personal stories from defectors. Super good, I recommend it to everyone.

The second one about Chernobyl I found on reddit, actually, through /r/catastropicfailure. The author put together a Imgur gallery of photos of Chernobyl (takes about 40 minutes to get through). I looked it up later and found it through Amazon for Kindle. The book version is much more detailed. Took me a couple weeks to get through, but so interesting. It’s not complicated and the author really explains things well if you aren’t a science person.

Beyond Belief I found through reddit, too. It’s a personal memoir of the niece David Miscavige (he’s the head of Scientology) who grew up in the church. I couldn’t put it down.

The Girl on the Train (after it got to a certain point) - Paula Hawkins —- on the other hand Into the Water was NOT my cup of tea.. I was waiting for that “moment” where it would pick up.. never happened. Forced myself to finish to move to another book.

Any of Jodi Picoult’s older books up until House Rules.

Any of Dan Brown’s books before Inferno/The Lost Symbol

All of the Harry Potters of course.

Hunger Game series - I finish the first two in a day and a half (if even)— and begged my aunt to bring her copy of the third one home.

Game of Thrones.. trying to read the second (and rest) of the books in the series.. it’s not working. I think I burned myself out on them when I read the first one in less than a week.

All of the Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb books “...in Death.” I use to finish one a day in middle school. Really need to catch up.

The Martian - Andy Weir. My ex had us go see the movie a couple times, really liked it and wanted to see what the book had in store.

If you like historical fiction, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is incredible. Disclaimer: it’s 806 pages, so it’s definitely not something that’s able to be read in one sitting. BUT it has been my favorite book for years and you will not want to put it down. It is absolutely worth every second of your time that it consumes.

If you grew up during the 80s to 00s and played video games, you'll love the book as it explores the climate of the video game industry at the time and gives a look behind the scenes of what was going on.

The Hiding Place. I always get bummed out when I finish a book so I try to stretch them out but I couldn't do it with this one. It is such a powerful and inspirational book. Being a true story makes it a million times better

Five Skies by Ron Carlson. It's about three men who are hired to build something on the edge of a canyon in the Rocky Mountains. The book unfolds very gradually, little by little giving you small pieces of information about the men and what they're building. I really can't describe it very well, but it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

It’s just because I’m a fan of Big Brother, and the author, Dan Gheesling... “How A Normal Guy Got Cast on Reality TV” is the only book I literally could not put down. The book talks about his 5 year journey to reaching his dreams of being on the show, through all the ups and downs. I’m normally not much of a reader (I’ve only ever even finished a handful of books). But this book I literally read in one day, in one sitting. And I’ve read it again countless times since!